After years of resisting, I reluctantly heeded the recommendations of friends and colleagues and started watching AMC’s Mad Men. Set against the backdrop of a Madison Avenue ad agency circa 1960, the show features major moral failures on the part of every character....
Queso Dip, made by combining Velveeta Cheese and canned Rotel tomatoes looked great on the television commercial. In fact, the ad convinced my husband and me that we should purchase the ingredients and serve along with chips for dinner. And that first bite was...
(This column first appeared on ROTWNEWS.com on January 1, 2011 and in The Press Enterprise on January 14, 2012.) For our family, 2011 marks the year our daughter, Lauren, and her fiancé, Kyle, got engaged. Atop Coit Tower in San Francisco on New Year’s Eve, Kyle...
(This column first appeared on RIMOFTHEWORLD.net on December 19, 2011.) One of my family’s Christmas Eve traditions is a White Elephant Gift Exchange. For the uninitiated, the cruel process goes something like this: Purchase a gift worth $5. Wrap it up so it looks...
(This column first appeared on RIMOFTHEWORLD.net on September 12, 2011.) My family and I survived another move. Although we're still unpacking boxes and, in the process, have uncovered more junk than the professional organizers on Hoarders, things are finally...
(This column first appeared on RIMOFTHEWORLD.net on July 31, 2011.) As an only child, I was a little late to the sharing party. Playing at home, there was no need to go halves or wait my turn. So when my classmate, Charlotte, grabbed the Colorforms from me during...
(This column first appeared on RIMOFTHEWORLD.net on July 18, 2011.) Overall, I'm a very safe driver. In fact, if you ask my kids, they'll eagerly tell you how irritating it is that I so closely follow the rules of the road. I drive the speed limit, observe stop signs,...
(This column first appeared on RIMOFTHEWORLD.net on July 3, 2011.) In the checkout line at Costco recently, one of the customer service members noticed that the contents of my cart could feed a small country. So he suggested I upgrade my membership to executive...
(This column first appeared on June 19, 2011.) For the past two years, we have bitten the financial bullet in order to buy annual passes to Disneyland for family Christmas gifts. Selecting the handy dandy interest-free monthly installment option, we don't buy the...
(This column first appeared on RIMOFTHEWORLD.net on May 24, 2011.) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lOGix9Ht1Gs&feature=player_embedded My husband and I have a standing breakfast date on Saturday mornings. So I usually try to show a little effort by running a comb...
(This column first appeared on RIMOFTHEWORLD.net on March 28, 2011.) Last week in the restroom at Costco, I managed to activate the automatic soap dispenser, which efficiently delivered one gallon of foam onto my waiting hands. But, as is typical, despite flailing my...
(This column first appeared on RIMOFTHEWORLD.net on February 28, 2011.) By the time you read this column, the 2011 Academy Awards will be history. And while the events that unfold at each Oscar ceremony don't affect most of us personally, there is much we can learn...